By Lena H. Sun
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 11, 2007

The operator of a Yellow Line train that struck and killed two Metro track workers in Alexandria last year was talking on a cellphone while operating the train, according to three sources familiar with a federal investigation into the incident.

It's not clear whether the train operator was using her cellphone at the moment of impact because times recorded by the cellphone tower and the train's vehicle monitoring system were not in sync, according to a source who asked not to be identified because of the investigation.

"They can't pin it down to the minute," the source said. "But there's no doubt she was on the phone."

It is unclear whether the operator's cellphone conversation contributed to the Nov. 30 accident, which is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. Regardless, Metro forbids the use of cellphones while operating trains, driving buses or performing other duties.

Cellphones have long been targeted for extinction on roads by safety advocates who say their use distracts drivers and contributes to accidents. Lawmakers across the country increasingly agree and have banned the use of hand-held cellphones in the District, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. A similar law is expected to take effect in Washington state in July, and a ban in California will take effect next year.

There is also growing concern about bus and train operators dialing and talking, according to Greg Hull, security chief for the American Public Transportation Association. Although most transit systems have policies regulating cellphone use, there is no national standard, said Hull, who added that the association is developing guidelines.

Transit officials and riders complain about lax enforcement at agencies where bans are in place, Hull said. A Washington Post reporter who rode Metrobuses for a day after a fatal accident in February saw drivers talking on cellphones.

"Driving a bus or a train requires keen concentration," Hull said. "Cellphone use is a distraction for any driver, whether it is an operator of a bus, a train or a car."

Gerald Francis, Metro's deputy general manager, said he could not comment about the Yellow Line incident because of the investigation. But he said employees need to "keep alert and attentive when operating any type of equipment, whether it's buses, trains or maintenance equipment."

The Nov. 30 incident was the third fatal accident involving a Metro worker and a train in a little more than a year. The four fatalities surpass the number of employees killed on the tracks in the agency's first 29 years, and the incidents drew a strong and swift reprimand from the NTSB.

The NTSB is also investigating two other Metrorail accidents: one on Mother's Day last year at Dupont Circle, in which a train hit and killed an employee, and a Jan. 7 derailment at the Mount Vernon Square Station that injured at least 18 people.

In the two fatal accidents, NTSB staff members have completed gathering facts and reviewing technical data and are analyzing them to see whether there are common safety or operational issues, an NTSB spokesman said. The findings of both investigations are expected to be announced this summer.

Federal investigators are analyzing data from the trains' event recorders, reading over interviews with more than a dozen Metro employees and, in the case of the Yellow Line accident, watching closed-circuit video from a platform security camera.

According to federal investigators, the train operator sounded her horn twice in the moments before hitting the workers. The first time was 12 seconds before impact, from a distance of two football fields. But she did not apply the brakes for at least another 10 seconds, from a distance of 50 feet, just before she struck the workers from behind.

About a month after the accident, Metro officials permanently barred the employee from operating a train or bus after an internal investigation concluded that she "did not exercise appropriate emergency braking procedures."

Metro requires train operators to sound their horns when workers are on the tracks and for workers to respond with hand signals before trains proceed. Without hand signals, operators are supposed to stay where they are and contact the control center for further instructions, officials have said.

The train operator, who is on leave and receiving workers' compensation, has been a Metro employee since 1999 and a train operator since 2001. Metro has not released her name.

The accident took place about 9:30 a.m. as an empty four-car train was leaving the Huntington Station and heading to the Alexandria rail yard, near the Eisenhower Avenue Station. The train was traveling at 39 mph.

The two track inspectors had been checking the rail for cracks, Metro officials said. Leslie Arvell Cherry, 52, who was known as Arvell, died on the day of the accident. Matthew Brooks, 36, of Waldorf died a week later.

After the November accident, Metro announced that track inspections would take place only between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., when fewer trains are running. Track inspectors, who have one of the most dangerous jobs at the agency, are also required to tell operators their locations, and trains are required to slow to less than 20 mph when coming within 600 feet of inspectors.